Protests Erupt in Cuba

[dann]

Members of the New York chapter of the National Conference of Black Lawyers want Biden to removed Cuba from the list of countries supporting terrorism:

Published in the Amsterdam News, the text recalled that while Joe Biden was campaigning for president “he promised to reverse the draconian sanctions imposed on Cuba” by Donald Trump.
However, Biden kept unchanged “most of Trump’s nearly 250 sanctions, including Cuba's inclusion in the list of states sponsor of terrorism,” they added.
But despite the hostile blockade and its inclusion in the list, Cuba “continues to have higher life expectancy, lower infant and maternal mortality, better health outcomes, higher literacy, more education and less violence than the United States.”
Black Lawyers launch campaign to withdraw Cuba from terrorist list (Prensa Latina, Mar 25, 2023)

 

[dann]

Caravan to demand end of US blockade against Cuba was successful (Prensa Latina, Mar 27, 2023)

Well, it was not as successful as the title had made me hope ...

 

[dann]

To date, 10 million 731 thousand 335 people have received at least one dose of one of the Cuban immunogens Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala.
Of these, 9 million 450 thousand 488 have already received the second dose and 9 million 148 thousand 870 have received the third dose.
A total of 90.7 percent of the Cuban population has been fully vaccinated and a total of 8,712,929 people have received booster doses.
Third dose of anti-Covid-19 booster to be approved in Cuba (Prensa Latina, Mar 29, 2023)

Population 11,113,215 (2021) (Wikipedia)

 

[dann]

The final results of the vaccination with the combined scheme of Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus -both developed by the Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV)- in children between two and 11 years of age in Cuba, during the infectious wave of the Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2, showed an effectiveness of more than 80%, the institution said on Twitter.
According to the Preprint of the results, after a regression discontinuity study, shared by the IFV, 1,098,817 fully vaccinated children between two and 11 years of age and 98,342 unvaccinated one-year-old children were included in the study.
During the 24-week Omicron infectious wave, 7,003 symptomatic COVID-19 infections were detected in the vaccinated group, and about 3,577 in the unvaccinated, the Preprint referenced.
The effectiveness of the vaccines against symptomatic COVID-19 infection was found to be similar in children aged two to four years, and in children aged five to 11 years, with 83.8% and 82.3%, respectively.
The article also showed that the effectiveness against severe symptomatic infection was 97 % in the two to four year-old group and 95 % in the five to 11 year-old group.
It was also shown that the efficacy against infection did not diminish over time.
There is a lot of Cuban COVID1-19 vaccines in children's smiles (Granma, April 13, 2023)

Since Cuba values children's health over pretending that the virus has disappeared, it is not taboo to mask up (PrensaLatina, April 10, 2023) occasionally if the number of infections is rising. When I visited schools in Cuba in the fall of 2022, I didn't notice any adverse psychological effects from having had to mask up, which was one of the concerns of panicking anti-maskers in the Western world.

 

[dann]

Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in Cuba since April 10, 2022.
For perspective (notice the y-axis): Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in Cuba and the USA since April 10, 2022. It looks as if the USA has achieved ZeroCovid, at least from April 8 to April 12, but I suppose it's a question of reporting (or registration) having stopped.

The SARS-CoV-2 numbers from Our World in Data, Nov 16, 2021, and now:
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 33, USA 251. --> Cuba 0.23 (April 12), USA 74.47 (April 7).
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people. 7-day rolling average. Cuba 0.23, USA 3.49. --> Cuba 0.0 (April 12), USA 0.74 (April 7).
Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people Cuba 760.78, USA 3,307.22.

Vaccinations:
Share of people vaccinated against COVID-19, Nov 19, 2021 and now: Cuba: fully 73.41, total 89.07; USA: fully 57.58, total 67.38. --> Cuba: fully 89.30, total 95.74; USA: fully 69.42, total 81.22.
It takes three jabs to be considered fully vaccinated in Cuba, and Cuba offers booster shots more often, so the difference is even bigger if we look at:
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people Cuba 238.92, USA 130.99. --> Cuba 392.03, USA 203.22.

Daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Rolling 7-day average. Cuba 0.98, USA 0.30. --> Cuba 0.07 (April 15), USA <0.01 (April 11).
The USA seems to be reporting its numbers only once a week now:
Daily share of the population receiving a COVID-19 vaccine dose

CNN's Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide

Earlier numbers: Dec 17, 2021, Jan 17, 2022, Feb 17, Mar 16, April 17, May 17, June 17, July 17, Aug 17, Sep 17, Oct 17, Nov 18, Jan 17, 2023, Feb 17, Mar 17.

 

[dann]

Good state of Cuba-Singapore relations highlighted (Granma.cu, April 24, 2023)

An interesting fact in this context is the many similarities between the pandemic response of the two countries - in spite of one major difference in this respect:
Population density
Singapore 8,358 per km²Cuba 102 per km²(USA 36 per km²)
Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people (Our World in Data)
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people (Our World in Data)

That Cuba and Singapore have managed the pandemic response so well is probably due to a couple of things:

1) Pre-vaccination, both countries had strict lockdowns, in densely populated Singapore very strict: 2020–21 Singapore circuit breaker measures (Wikipedia).
2) Extensive use of testing and face masks.
3) Both managed to keep the contagion down until the arrival of the Delta variant, which hit Cuba particularly hard because the vaccination campaign had only just started in the summer of 2021 due to USA's blockade.
4) Both countries have vaccinated their entire populations, including children. Singapore used Moderna's and Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccines. Cuba used its own vaccines Soberana and Abdala. Unlike many other countries, Singapore and Cuba are aware that COVID-19 harms children, too. Consequently, Singapore has vaccinated all children older than 6 months. Singapore maintains COVID-19 vaccination stance for children, adolescents as WHO revises recommendations - MOH said severe disease can still occur in children infected with COVID-19, including pneumonia, MIS-C (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children), and even death. (Channels News Asia, Mar 30, 2023)
Cuba started vaccinating children 2+ in the fall of 2021: In Cuba, most children 2 and up are vaccinated against Covid-19 (NBC News, Mar 2, 2022). I don't know if Cuba has started vaccinating younger children than that since then.
5) Low levels of vaccine hesitancy, obviously.

The most important lesson that the rest of the world could learn from Cuba and Singapore is that health authorities and governments telling their populations to 'learn to live with the virus' instead of fighting it are full of ****. In some countries, people tend to have faith in their health authorities because they have reason to trust them. In other countries ... not so much.
It is no wonder that the mainstream media doesn't tell us about the pandemic response of the two countries, which are so different in most respects.

 

[dann]

Blinken says there are no plans to remove Cuba from list of sponsors of terrorism (OnCubaNews, Mar 28, 2023)

Bill that would prevent U.S. president from removing Cuba from list of sponsors of terrorism gets support (OnCubaNews, Mar 30, 2023)

Cuba and the United States this Thursday and Friday held in Havana a technical exchange on cooperation to combat terrorism, reported the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
Authorities from both governments discussed the hijacking of aircraft and maritime vessels, as well as the use of digital media for violent purposes, according to a press release published this Friday on MININT’s official website.
“Both parties agreed on the importance of cooperation in this sphere, and agreed to continue technical meetings in the future,” it said.
Likewise, it regretted that the administration in Washington accuses Cuba in an “arbitrary and unjustified” manner of being a “sponsor of terrorism” and considered that carrying out this exchange “is an expression of the commitment of the Cuban government in the fight against this scourge, and of the commitment to take all necessary steps to combat its perpetrators.”
Cuba and U.S. exchange information to cooperate against terrorism (OnCubaNews, April 30, 2023)

It does look weird, doesn't it?!

 

[dann]

The Washington D.C. Council unanimously voted a resolution to urge President Joe Biden to end the economic blockade against Cuba and to remove the country from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Upon learning the news and reflecting it on his Twitter account, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, detailed that "this makes 80 resolutions in the United States in favor of a change in policy towards Cuba"
Washington DC Council calls to lift blockade and remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism (Granma.cu, May 25, 2023)

PR25-0113 - Sense of the Council on the Restoration of Cuban American Relations Resolution of 2023 (D.C. Council, May 19, 2023)

 

[dann]

During the covid-19 crisis, the United States had the opportunity to share its vaccine technology with the world, and its failure to do so prolonged the pandemic at home and abroad. In June 2022, a senior Biden administration official admitted that the omicron variant, which has been responsible for more than 300,000 deaths in the United States and more than 1.5 million globally, might never have emerged if the world been sufficiently vaccinated in 2021.
What is less known is that Cuba had the same opportunity to help vaccinate the world. The story of how Cuba was systematically blocked in its quest to make its own highly effective vaccines widely available offers crucial lessons.
(...)
Crucially, these governments could not persuade the companies they had financed to share the technologies that could have enabled other countries to make vaccines on their own. In this grim landscape, it was astonishing to learn that Cuba had made two effective coronavirus vaccines from scratch, and then vowed to share its intellectual property worldwide.
(...)
The cost of developing these shots was $50 million, according to BioCubaFarma, far less than the billions invested by the U.S. government and the hundreds of millions invested by Germany in theirs.
Next pandemic, let Cuba vaccinate the world (Washington Post, June 1, 2023)

The Washington Post: Next pandemic, let Cuba vaccinate the world (Cuban News Agency, June 2, 2023)

 

[dann]

Three doses of Abdala vaccine were very effective in pregnant women to counteract the effects of Covid-19, and the use of Jusvinza peptide in those with severe or critical disease.

Protecting pregnant women and their babies has been a priority in Cuba since COVID-19 began to spread around the world. And although, unfortunately, in 2021, 93 of them died during the worst moments of the pandemic peak faced by our country, once vaccination was started in this risk group, that indicator was reduced to zero, and greater protection of the lives of pregnant women and unborn babies was achieved.
This is confirmed by the historical figures of the epidemic in the Greater Antilles, as well as by the safety and immunogenicity evaluation carried out in 940 obstetric patients who received three doses of the Abdala vaccine, as part of a research carried out in five maternity hospitals in Havana.
These results -which were presented at the meeting of experts and scientists on health issues, headed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez- showed that 92.6% of the pregnant women studied were not infected with COVID-19, and out of the 6% who were, only 0.4% had moderate disease, and the rest had mild disease.
(...)
It was possible to confirm, she said, that in any trimester that the woman is vaccinated there will be benefits for both her and the unborn child, being the most favorable moment around the 22nd week of pregnancy.
Abdala vaccine: excellent protection for pregnant women and their babies (Granma.cu, June 16, 2023)

The article also mentions the drug Jusvinza:
Jusvinza, an anti-inflammatory drug derived from the human heat-shock protein 60, for critically ill COVID-19 patients. An observational study (PubMed, Feb 2, 2023)

 

[dann]

Several activists with the National Network on Cuba, CODEPINK, and IFCO/Pastors for Peace were arrested on Thursday after trying to have a meeting with New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez in his office in Washington, DC. Activists were attempting to meet with Menendez to urge him to lift the US blockade against Cuba and take Cuba off the US’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
(...)
The NNOC, IFCO, and CODEPINK are mobilizing a march, alongside other solidarity and anti-war organizations, in Washington DC this Sunday, June 25 to take Cuba off of the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list, an extreme designation that Menendez supports. (Source: Prensa Latina)
Gail Walker arrested after trying to meet Senator Bob Menendez (Granma.cu, June 23, 2023)

Gail Walker, NNOC, IFCO, CODEPINK.

 

[theprestige]

Codepink. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

 

[dann]

Democratic Senator Peter Welch stated that removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list is a measure that the United States can and should take to mend its relationship with the Caribbean island.

Welch, who became a member of the US Senate from Vermont this year, filed a statement for the Congressional Record outlining opportunities to advance bilateral ties.
In his proposal, the legislator warned that the policies currently in place are just a continuation of the failed agenda of the previous administration.
These policies contribute, directly and indirectly, to hardships and scarcity in Cuba, which in his opinion was a triggering factor for the increase in the migratory flow of Cuban citizens to the United States in 2022, he added.
US Senator calls to remove Cuba from State Sponsors of Terrorism list (PrensaLatina, Aug 8, 2023)

No mention in the mainstream media.

 

[Brainster]

No mention in the mainstream media.

Welch has been a useful idiot literally forever.

 

[dann]

Codepink. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Mentioned in this thread a couple of times.

 

[dann]

Public protests in Cuba, normally unthinkable, have erupted as widespread anger and frustration grows at the current situation. The Miami Herald reports:

A 14-second video shows people marching in protest.
...

I have mainly focused on Cuba's pandemic response in this thread, one of the two themes in the OP, but I have also compared the media's reporting on protests and/or riots in other countries with the reporting about protests and riots in Cuba in July 2021 (and the ones that were unsuccessfully announced for November 2021), and in particular about the response of the authorities.
See posts 13, 22, 29, 41, 62, 84, 108, 109, 111, 113, 115, 116, 117, 118, 122, 125, 133, 134, 135, 140, 160, 202, and 219.

In a new article, Cuban Granma looks at biased reporting on this theme:

While the world is facing an era of turbulence and crisis, Cuba is also waging an unparalleled battle against slander and lies. Its people's cult of justice and the full dignity of the human being is the target of systematic attacks by its adversaries.
An example of the discrediting campaign, organized from Washington, is the distortion of the events that took place in the country during the summer of 2021.
A quick look around the world reveals interesting details on the subject, and clearly shows the manipulation and double standards by which these matters are measured.
Double standards and new protest linguistics (Granma.cu, Aug 10, 2023)

Granma mentions other riots in the rest of the world, how they were handled by the police and described by the media, and sums up:

In both Europe and the U.S., the events were termed as civil unrest.

Granma then returns to the comparison of those riots with the ones in Cuba in 2021:

However, in Cuba, for example, no helicopters or armored vehicles were used, let alone long[-range?] weapons to restore order; no tear gas or water jets were used to contain those who threw Molotov cocktails, destroyed cars, looted stores and threw stones at institutions and people.
None of that can happen in Cuba. Neither the laws nor the citizens would allow such outrages; it only happens in the toxic ecosystem of fake media, in which truth and lies are confused at the whim of the spurious interests of those who still dream of inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Island of Liberty.

 

[dann]

Apparently, Cubans have been lured into going to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to do construction work but were then told to put on uniforms and fight against Ukraine.

Ukraine war: Cuban ‘prisoners of war’ being ‘duped’ into fighting for Russia (Times Radio on YouTube, Sep 5, 2023 - 4:05 min)

The Ministry of the Interior has detected and it is working to neutralize and dismantle a trafficking network that operates from Russia in order to incorporate Cuban citizens living there and even some living in Cuba, into the military forces that participate in military operations in Ukraine. Attempts of this nature have been neutralized and criminal proceedings have been initiated against those involved in these activities.
Cuba’s enemies are promoting distorted information that seeks to tarnish the country’s image and present it as an accomplice to these acctions that we firmly reject.
Cuba has a firm and clear historical position against mercenarism, and it plays an active role in the United Nations in rejection of the aforementioned practice, being the author of several of the initiatives approved in that forum.
Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine. It is acting and it will firmly act against those who within the national territory participate in any form of human trafficking for mercenarism or recruitment purposes so that Cuban citizens may raise weapons against any country.
Cuba counters human trafficking operations aimed for military recruitment purposes (Granma.cu, Sep 5, 2023)

 

[dann]

Today, each and every country in the EU, all South American, North American and Caribbean countries, with one exception, voted to end the U.S. blockade against Cuba.

UN votes overwhelmingly to condemn US economic embargo on Cuba for 31st year and urge its lifting (Washington Post, Nov 2, 2023)

HAVANA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly called for the 31st time on the United States to end its decades-long trade embargo against Cuba as the communist-run island suffers its worst economic crisis in decades, with shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
The non-binding resolution was approved by 187 countries and opposed only by the United States and Israel, with Ukraine abstaining.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in a speech before the assembly that the "blockade prevents Cuba from accessing food, medicines, and technological and medical equipment."
U.N. votes to end US embargo on Cuba; US and Israel oppose (Reuters, Nov 2, 2023)

Six decades of the embargo has cost Cuba trillions of dollars, Singapore’s representative, who spoke on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said. From 1 March 2022 to 28 February 2023, the blockade cost Cuba an estimated $4.87 billion in losses. It is unfortunate that 80 per cent of Cuba’s current population has only known Cuba under the blockade. The policy is particularly jarring at a time when the world has already fallen behind on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Economic, Commercial Embargo Imposed by United States Against Cuba Harmful, Violates UN Charter, Speakers Underline in General Assembly (United Nations, Nov 1, 2023)

 

[dann]

Cuban foreign minister expresses appreciation for support at the United Nations (Granma.cu, Nov 2, 2023)

¡Dejen a Cuba vivir sin bloqueo! (Granma.cu, Nov 3, 2023)
Let Cuba live without the blockade!

 

[theprestige]

I like how, in that fantasy world, the US embargo on Cuba is a literal blockade that prevents Cuba from trading with anyone else either. I wouldn't be surprised if half the votes in the UN came from delegates who assume there really is a literal blockade.